The Briefing

Enormous Oil, Gas Reserves Found in Russia’s Arctic Region — According to preliminary estimations, the Arctic reserves have nearly 100 billion tons of fuel, Alexei Kontorovich, Director of the Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Currently the reserves are believed to 80 percent gas.

OPEC U.S. oil supply to drop for first time in eight years in 2016 — In its closely watched monthly oil market report, OPEC slashed its U.S. oil production forecast by 280,000 barrels a day next year, leading to a decline of 60,000 barrels a day in 2016 instead of a previously predicted increase. The group said a fast depletion and expenditure cuts in tight oil, due to lower prices, were now driving down production faster than expected.

Japan, Iran foreign ministers agree on investment pact — Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif struck a broad agreement on a bilateral investment pact. The two foreign ministers agreed to set up a council for Japan-Iran cooperation to discuss a variety of issues ranging from economic cooperation to the environment and medical care.

Korean firm to invest in €900 million Iranian township project — South Korea’s Daelim Industrial is about to sign an agreement for 900 million euros of investment in a project to build houses near Tehran. The construction of the new Kharazmi township, as one of the 121 investment opportunities worth 900 million euros, had been presented at the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development’s international conference which is due to be carried out with the participation of Daelim.

Mauritius to open offices in Europe and Asia — Mauritius wants to boost slower investment flows and its economy by opening offices in Europe and Asia in the next six months to promote itself as a regional hub for finance, manufacturing and other businesses. FDI into Mauritius reached 14.1 billion rupees ($400 million) in 2014 but has slipped so far in 2015, reaching 4.76 billion rupees in the first six months.

Egypt's net FDI rises 54.6% to $6.4 billion — Egypt's net foreign direct investments rose by 54.6 percent in the fiscal year ending 30 June 2015 to stand at $6.37 billion, their highest since the 2011 revolution. According to the central bank's September bulletin, Egypt's FDI rose by $2.25 billion since standing at $4.12 billion a year earlier. Money from Arab countries made up most of the investment inflows, increasing 51.6 percent to $2.67 billion from $1.3 billion the year before.